And So It Began
by polka-dotted-pengiuns
Summary: Chapter eight part one finally up! “Remus, I must say, at the current time of two a.m. on this fine night, you look about as frighteningly horrible as a drunken bunny rabbit wearing a tshirt supporting world peace.
1. chocolate

**And So It Began**

James Potter, newly sorted Gryffindor as of last week, sat up in his bed. It was a beautiful morning, the sun streaming through a small gap in his hangings, the birds singing...

James smiled and streached mucles that had lay unused for hours, basking in the morning glow. Then his eyes lit upon Black.

He scowled slightly, then winced as his back popped. How on earth a Black had made it into Gryffindor was beyond him, they were rumored to be the worst of the worst. Mum had always said to give others a chance before judging, but c'mon, a _Black? _James had even caught the kid hexing another student! Sure he was a Slytherin, so he couldn't be too bothered, and he'd managed to take down a third year, which was slightly impressive. But still...

James sighed, feeling only slightly guilty for early sterotypes, and grabbed a towel. The shower awaited. Then followed classes.

That had to be the only downside of Hogwarts. Learning.

James shuddered and closed the door behind him.

Sirius Black, newly sorted non-Slytherin as of last week, groaned and rolled over. Why anyone would want to get out of bed was beyond him as he pulled the hangings closed and turned his back to the sun. Society hadn't been all that welcoming of the Black gone Gold.

Sirius had always been a rather talkative person, so he supposed that the Gryffindors had probably picked the worst punishment they could, the cold shoulder. Only the Slytherins would converse with him, though that wasn't exactly pleasent either. He'd even resorted to hexing a family member last week because they just wouldn't shut up. Sirius sighed and sat up, rubbing sleep from his tired eyes, he didn't want to go to breakfast, but he had to or risk even more rumors. He decided to get up and shower first to postpone going into the great hall. He knocked on the bathroom door.

"Taken."

Sirius sighed and sat back down on his bed to wait.

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James eagerly scanned the owls at breakfast, looking for his family's owl. His mother had said she was going to send him and Remus and Peter some of her famous homemade chocolate chip cookies and any child in his right mind would scan for an owl in that situation. He spotted his owl finally. It was engaged in a small tussle with and elegant looking black owl. His owl gave up, ruffled its feathers and brought the package down to James. He grinned.

He relieved the owl of his delicious package, no reason for the poor thing to suffer. After he had sent the owl on its way with a piece of bacon, he looked around the table to see who the black owl belonged to, it had to be a Gryffindor's because it was the Gryffindor table they were fighting over.

A logical conclusion, isn't it?

He saw it belonged to Black. James was surprised though when Sirius gave it a wary glance before taking the letter from the owl. The owl nipped his finger and took off, cuffing him upside the head with its wing as it did. Sirius glared, made a rude gesture at the owl. He rubbed his head before opening the very extensive letter.

James tried to use the look on Sirius's face to have some sort of idea about the letters contents. But he gathered about as much information from that as he would have had he tried staring down a roll of toilet paper. And he knew how hard THAT was to do.

Sirius stood up, calm and cool as ever, and left the hall. There was only one clue that led him to feel that something was off.

The boy's hand was trembling. Just slightly, but it was there.

James had never exactly been friendly with Sirius, but he didn't want to see his dorm mate be freaked out about something or another and be left alone, evil family or no.

Such a noble little boy, wasn't he?

James grabbed a few pieces of cookie, muttered an "I'll see you in transfiguration." to his friends, and turned to follow the distraught boy out of the hall.

He followed Sirius out of the hall, through a few passages, up a few staircases, and after covering about half the school (he assumed that Sirius was casually trying to throw off anyone following him) finally ended up at the now familiar portrait of the slightly overweight lady.

It was rude to call people fat.

Sirius went up the staircase to the boy's dorm. He glanced warily around before he entered the first year doorway, and locked the door.

James waited until he heard the noise of curtains being violently closed until he cast the unlocking charm and went in quietly.

"Sirius?" James asked awkwardly, not exactly knowing how to speak to the boy he'd been ignoring for the last week.

The springs squeaked, James could only assume that he'd jumped at the unexpected sound of his voice.

There was the sound of someone clearing their throat.

"Yeah?"

"Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine."

"It sure doesn't seem like it," he said with a small smile that Sirius couldn't see.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, I don't know, but I can only assume that it had something to do with that letter you got."

There was no reply.

Sirius opened the curtains slowly and James was thoroughly shocked to see that his eyes were slightly bloodshot.

"James, tell me, why do you _care_?"

"I care because I'm not going to sit and watch my house mate cry with no one to talk to." James said it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Sirius was quiet for a minute or so, but James didn't go away.

"What was the letter about, then?"

Sirius sighed, the one time he'd been "Displaying his emotions for the world to see" he'd been caught. Well, wasn't exactly as if he'd been having the greatest of luck lately. Mother would just love this. But he'd thought he'd been alone. James had clearly no intention of leaving until he heard the story, and that had to be a step up from being completely ignored. After all, he was only trying to get the Potter boy to go away...

"My mother isn't all that happy with me," he said finally.

"From what I just saw, that seems to be the understatement of the year," said James with a small laugh, Sirius laughed also. James liked his laugh, it sounded like his own, happy and full of mischief waiting to be released. If people could be judged on only their laugh, then Sirius would quite possibly be his best friend. As it was...

Well, a lot stood in the way.

"You're right, she's downright furious with me, all because I 'stained the family name' by getting into Gryffindor, the family name is stained enough with out me doing anything to it." He said bitterly.

"That's it, all that just for getting in the wrong house?" James asked, shocked. He'd thought that Sirius's dog had died or something, not just a letter from his mom, who he apparently didn't like anyway. Seemed a bit stupid really, but he was judging again. That had to stop.

"Well, no. You see, I don't exactly agree with my family on everything, and I've, er, made sure they know it. This was just the final straw. Read this." Sirius sighed and flung the letter at James, he read it.

It was horrible. He couldn't believe that any person on earth could say some of these things to anyone without wanting to wash their mouth out with soap, let alone their son. There were words had never even heard of before, yet he knew were terrible things to say. James knew that his mother would be furious to even see such thing mentioned, much less used to hurt another intentionally. But there was one thing that was just out of line beyond all others...

"That's uncalled for," said James in a matter-of-fact tone.

"_What?" _Spluttered Sirius. He'd imagined a reaction, but that wasn't quite what he had envisioned. Maybe a bit of laughing, a hearty 'I agree', but this?

Well, the teachers had already been talking about what a strange boy James was.

"That's uncalled for," James reiterated with a smile, "She called you an animal, and I am almost 100 percent positive that you _are_, in fact, a human." Said James, still using the matter-of-fact tone. Sirius laughed again, but this time it had a much happier ring to it, James smiled.

"What my dear mother would say," said Sirius wistfully "Me, heir to the Black fortune, sitting and laughing with a Potter willingly, she'd probably call it treason."

James smiled. So Black _did_ have a sense of humor. The way he'd been walking around you'd think somebody stole it right out of him and replaced it with with a cheap off brand version of what was funny, like toilet humor or something.

"Well, I know what _I_ would say." James grinned.

Sirius wilted, here it was, the rejection, what he knew was imminent but didn't want to think about, the Potter boy was even smiling about it.

"And what would that be?"

James climbed to his feet, brushing the invisible dust off his robes.

"I would say, stand up and have some cookies, mate." James held out one of his mother's delicious treats, and a hand to help Sirius up.

Sirius stared. He could do one of two things, and they could possibly alter his life forever. He could ignore James, like his good Mother would want, an go one being aloor and antisocial, in grace with the family he disagreed with so much, and miserable.

Or he could take the helping hand. He could have friends who liked him for him and not his status. He could have friends who didn't learn dark magic at the age of six. He could have unprejudiced, rational, non-murderous, true to the end friends like he'd always dreamed about. And he could annoy the _crap_ out of his mother.

It was a no brainer, really.

Sirius grinned back and took the hand. And the cookie too.

The two trudged up to the castle and plopped themselves down in the great hall. One boy smiling but very tearstained, the other with a bunch of lint on his robe from sitting in the sock pile. Remus looked up.

"This is Sirius Black, our new partner in causing mischief and chaos."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Remus Lupin."

The other boy looked at James for confirmation. James nodded.

"And I'm Peter Pettigrew," he smiled.

Professor Minerva McGonagall didn't know why, but when she looked over at the newly formed foursome, It sent shivers down her spine. One week from that fateful day, she would learn to always trust her instinct, when she walked into the great hall with lime green hair, and neon orange robes, and saw the faces of four smiling Gryffindor's.

Sirius rolled over into the bar of sunlight spreading across his sheets and smiled into his pillow. It was nice to be cared for.

**And So It Began **

I like this story a lot, and I would like to know if you do too, so it really would nice to get a review, I'm new to this and I haven't gotten many.

Completely revamped as of 2/15/07 when I should be control excersizes for solo and ensomble. Ah, well...


	2. toilets

**And So It Began**

**Chapter Two**

**Toilets **

It was a dreary day, almost 2 weeks since the marauders had become friends, and James and Sirius were franticly searching the castle for their missing comrade, Remus Lupin, King of All Literature.

They had checked the library, the kitchens, the dorm, the common room, the grounds, the great hall, the dungeons, and the hospital wing. They didn't know where else to look.

"The TOILETS!" shouted James

"_What?" _Spluttered Sirius, staring at his friend as if he'd grown another head. Which he did last week, the kid needed to make sure his toothpaste was safe before using it...

"The TOILETS, we didn't check all the TOILETS!"

"Do you have any idea how long it would take to check every freaking toilet in the freaking castle?"

"No, but we still need to check the TOILETS!"

"Why?"

"_Because_ Sirius, what if he went to the toilet, like any other day, finished his _business_ then tried to leave, _but_" James gave a huge fake gasp, " the bottom of his robe got caught in the toilet and he is stuck and helpless and he needs our help, and he is sitting there calling, and nobody hears him and-

"Done yet?"

"No, and he cant move, and he drowns and then he gets turned into a ghost, and then he has no company but myrtle, and then she forces him to marry her-

"How about now?"

"Nope, and then they live in a toilet, and have _really, really really, _ugly little ghost babies, and Remus is _miserable_ in the afterlife."

"Now?

"Yes Sirius, I'm done."

"Good, do you have any idea how long it would take to check every freaking toilet in the freaking castle?"

"No"

"Well, neither do I, so lets get started.."

And on they went, to check every freaking toilet in the freaking castle. They finished the seventh floor, the sixth floor, the fifth floor, the fourth floor, the third floor, the second floor, the first floor, and they were on to the dungeons to check the final toilets.

But they hit a small road block, in the form of a greasy haired, long nosed youth.

Sirius groaned. It was bad enough to participate in the 'play dates' his mother arranged at home, much less seeing the boy at school.

"Why Siri, it has been a long time hasn't it, but I better be going, my mother would be disgusted to know that I was talking to you, the blood traitor."

_Awww, I love you too, Snape. _

"Shove off, Snivelous, at least I'm not a mommy's boy." Sirius called over his shoulder.

"Who's that?" asked James, as though Snape wasn't there

"Severus Snape, think of an insult, and i guarantee that it describes him perfectly."

"I'm standing right here you know." Huffed Snape.

"So _that's_ what that odor was," Sirius muttered to himself.

But sadly, as we all know, when we say bad things to bad people under our breath, like good people, to keep from starting a fight, they always over hear.

"Why don't you just go back to the land of the mudbloods-

"Take that back." Sirius shouted.

"Uncalled for" James bellowed.

"I seem to have touched a nerve" he sneered, a rather ugly look.

"Dude," said James, laughing quietly to himself, "It looks like you're sucking on a lemon."

"I am most defiantly not 'sucking on a lemon'" Snape replied, in his best aloof, 'I'm better than you, pond scum' sort of voice.

"Well, if you could move your large nose out of our way, we need to go to the bathroom." Said Sirius, trying his best to be diplomatic. They grew up in the same lifestyle, Sirius knew what the boy was capable of.

"Looking for that shabby pathetic excuse for a wizard lupin-

"HEY!" James shouted, getting incredibly angry. Insult him as much as you want, but Remus did nothing, "He never did anything to you."

"Oh, that's right," said Snape clearly enjoying the fact that he had obviously ticked the boy off.

"Remus is twice the wizard that you will ever be," growled Sirius

"That may be so, once he can buy himself a decent pair of robes."

James looked ready to punch Snape

"Forget you," said Sirius, "C'mon James, let's go look for Remus, ignore Snape, the piece of filth isn't worth it."

Sirius threw one last filthy glare and tried to advance on Snape, but James, never before dealing with the Slytherin, began to take his wand out. Sirius knocked his hand away and dragged James along by the shirt sleeve.

"Cowards," called Snape

"Shove it up your mother's backside," called Sirius.

Snape, with out warning, cast one of his favorite curses at the retreating backs of Sirius and James. And he called _them_ cowards

"AH!" cried Sirius, before wrapping his arms around his middle, squinting his eyes against the pain. It was thankfully over quickly.

"Why you _little" _said James, looking at Sirius who was panting.

_Crap, I don't know any spells, um, I could levitate him, no, that would just float him in the air and give him a better view of his targets. Uhhhhhh, _he heard Sirius cry out again,

_Crap again, ummm, color change? No that's stupid_, he heard Sirius cry out a third time and this time, Snape seemed to find it funny this time around though, and was laughing hysterically whilst saying some rather nasty words. James, without thinking, did what his mother would have done had he said any thing like that.

"Wash out your mouth, _scorgify, continous."_ Shouted James, the continuing cleaning spell, Snape would be spitting soap suds for a good couple hours. Now Sirius, instead of shouting, was cracking up at the sight of his childhood nemesis.

"Cleaning up your act there, Snivelly?" he cackled, Snape just glared and tried to try another curse, it didn't work though, as he couldn't say the incantation.

"Well, Sirius, we better get you to the hospital wing." James gestured to the huge cut across his face

"Oh yeah, well onwards Pothead."

"Yes sir, Mr. Green."

And they made their merry way to the hospital wing, each realizing just how good of friends they would become.

"OW, must you _poke _it?"

Eventually.

Thanks to pyromaniac partygirl for the idea, and I would just like to say, I got next to no feedback on this, and it has as many hits and my other fics which have 4 and 5 reviews, and my friends which has 8. I just want to know how im doing, and what I need to improve on. Help Wanted. Please?

Polka dotted penguin number two

Again, revamped, though this chapter sucked to begin with and couldn't really be salvaged, please continue reading, the next chapter's really good )


	3. strange

**And So It Began**

"Sirius?"

"Hmm?"

"Have you noticed anything . . . _strange_ . . . about Remus?"

"I think everybody's a little strange at two am."

"Well, we wouldn't know weather he is or not, because he's not _here_ to study with you and me and be strange at two am, but seriously, have you noticed?"

"Of course I've noticed James; the boy enjoys studying by _daylight_, that's just not _normal_."

"Could you be serious for two seconds?" It was a mark of how truly tired Sirius was that he didn't make a Sirius pun.

"Ok, fine . . . umm . . . he has a lot of old dieing relatives?" he muttered tiredly.

"Yeah, why do you think Dumbledore lets him go and visit every single one of them, he always comes back late and tired and behind on homework."

Sirius unglued his cheek from the transfiguration text that was serving as a temporary pillow. A large effort in his opinion.

"And. . um . . . McGonagall loves him, and she hates us all, in fact, most of the teachers seem to like him."

"They always let him off his late work when he's sick, hey; he gets sick all the time."

"I swear he's sick at least once a month."

"Yeah, he gets all tired and sore and nauseous and feverish." James ran a hand through his hair.

"I dunno James" moaned Sirius, he returned his cheek to the page of his book, holding his head up and focusing was too much effort. "Wake me up when pigs fly?"

"I don't think pigs will be flying any time soon, Flitwick gave up on teaching us that charm."

"Exactly my point." Mumbled Sirius, his eyes closing, "_shut up."_

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Sirius woke up to the sound of hushed voices in the dorm; he pushed himself up in bed and opened his hangings to listen.

"Where were you?"

"My aunt had a baby, my family wanted me to come and see her." Well, it was partly true, thought Remus, they did have a baby . . . 9 years ago.

"Then that baby must have attacked you or something, that's a nasty cut."

"No," Remus forced a laugh, willing himself not to throw up a bunch of healing potions on his concerned friend, "I fell out of a tree."

"Ouch,"

Sirius by then had mustered up enough strength to actually get out of bed, he _was_ very tired after all.

"REMUS, YOU'RE BACK!" Sirius ran up and hugged the poor boy, in a bear hug that can only be generated by one Sirius Lee Black.

James watched as Remus winced hard, he didn't get why, the cut and bruise was on his face.

"Nice to see you too, Sirius," he said in a somewhat strangled voice, "you guys can go on to breakfast, I've still got to change."

"So do I," said Sirius, finally releasing the eleven year old, "we'll wait."

Remus appeared to be debating with himself as James watched him, Sirius was too busy looking for his pants to notice, Remus finally appeared to make up his mind, shook his head, grabbed his clothes and headed to the bathroom to change.

"Why do you think he does that?" asked James to Sirius,

"Does what? Come on, pants where you?"

"Change in the bathroom, it's not like we're going to check him out or anything."

"Maybe he just doesn't like changing in front of people" Sirius didn't see why though, he changed near his bed every day.

"Yes, but Remus is very random about it, sometimes he will and sometimes he wont."

"So? Why does it matter if he doesn't love changing in front of a ton of other boys?"

"I don't know, it's just weird, _he's_ just weird."

"Who's weird?" Asked Remus, emerging from the bathroom, walking with a slight limp on his left side, noticed James.

"Um, Snape! Strange kid, I mean come on; shampoo isn't that hard to find."

Remus laughed "I know, you ready Sirius?"

"Yeah, hang on." He was trying to buckle the belt on his pants. "aaaaand, GOT IT! Lets go." And he marched himself out of the room, looking for all the world like a super-hero off to battle evil with exasperated side-kicks.

**One Month Later**

"This is going to be so great, James, Snape wont know what hit him!"

"I know, he's going to be so mad!"

"I cant wait to see his face!"

"Sirius?"

"Hm?"

"You do know that you're foot's sticking out."

"Oh, oops."

James and Sirius were off to commit yet another act of mischief. Big surprise. But it was considerably harder without Remus to work out all the technical stuff. When they went over the plan with him before he left to see his grandma at Saint Mungo's, Remus had told them not to do it at night, and to wait until morning, and that it wasn't safe to go wandering around in the dark. More like begged, now that they thought about it. But the more the boys thought about it, the faster they realized that the only way for the prank to work _was_ to do it at night. And that was exactly what they had done. Now, with the products in place, it was nearing sunrise, and the boys were headed back to the dorm.

_Thump, thump, thump_

"James, what was that?"

_Thump, thump, thump._

"It sounds like somebody pounding on a door."

**_THUMP, THUMP, THUMP _ **

"Why would somebody be pounding on a door this early in the morning?"

_**THUMP, THUMP, THUMP!**_

"I don't know, let's see whose door it is."

The boy's rounded the corner to see who was pounding on the door, it was a door that they had never seen before, and the person pounding was a very worried matron. She was holding something in her arms, and bouncing slightly on the balls of her feet. She looked near tears and something was dripping on the floor near her.

"_What_ do you want at this time of morning?" asked a very tired Professor McGonagall.

"It's terrible this time 'round Minerva. I need your help with the healing, I cant do it myself, there's too much, I don't have enough power to do it fast enough, and heaven knows he needs the attention quickly," Moaned Madam Pomfrey.

"But why- _oh dear lord_- what are you waiting for, get him to the hospital wing now!" The boy's had never ever heard their transfiguration teacher sound so scared and worried.

"Who is it?" asked Sirius, "Who's hurt."

"I don't know, Sirius." Said James softly.

"Is-Is that Remus?" asked Sirius, just as softly. Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey began to sprint down the corridor, but stayed near the light of the window at the end of the hall, just long enough, to illuminate the bundle in the healer's hands.

"_Oh my god_," whispered James faintly, leaning against the wall, "I think so."

And indeed it was, or what was left of him by the way, all the boys could see of their friend was a mass of bloody robes, raggedly and shallowly breathing, and an equally bloody face. The parts of his face they could see through the masses of cuts, bruises, and wounds were so pale he looked whiter than any Hogwarts ghost. They quickly realized that the dripping they had seen near Madam Pomfry was Remus' own blood pouring from the scrapes and tares in his skin.

"D-do you think he's ok James?"

"Well, I think the answer to that question is obvious."

"We have to follow, we have to have to see if he's alright."

"I know, but we cant, we should ask McGonagall after transfiguration, it's our first lesson."

Sirius agreed, but very reluctantly.

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"How do you think that happened to him, is his family abusive?" Asked James, they were in their dorms waiting for breakfast to officially start, they had about 15 minuets left.

"I don't think so, if they were, he would stay during holidays, or at least not like going home for summer and stuff, they send him nice presents at Christmas too, considering their financial condition." Mused Sirius.

"Then it must be something else, something bad if he's lying about it, I don't think Remus would lie willingly." Remus Lupin was the most honest person James knew.

"I know, maybe there's a pattern to his absences though."

"I'll get the calendar."

James got up and puttered about trying to locate the calendar in the midst of all the junk.

"Found it yet?"

"No."

"How about now?"

"No."

"Which one are you looking for, Peter's with all the hippogriffs on it, or the Sacred Manly Quidditch Calendar."

"The Sacred Manly Quidditch calendar of course."

"Just making sure, did you find it now?"

"No, Sirius."

"But we _need_ the Sacred Manly Quidditch Calendar, our room simply isn't manly enough with out its presence. What will Remus say when he gets back?"

"I know, it's all girly and. . . hippogriffy." James shuddered.

"The place isn't complete without the Sacred Manly Quidditch Calendar, soon you will be able to see the floor, then the dirty underwear will be in the hamper, and then the beds will be made, and horror of all horrors, the room will smell nice! We need that Sacred Manly Quidditch Calendar for the very well being and manly-ness of this dorm. Remus would be ashamed of you." But even Sirius's odd banter didn't sound as carefree as it usually did.

"NO! We cannot let this happen Sirius, help me look."

_Five (very stressful) minutes later_

"JAMES, I FOUND IT, I FOUND IT, I FOUND THE SACRED MANLY QUIDDITCH CALANDAR, WE'RE SAVED, THE DORM'S SAVED, WE WONT TURN INTO A BUNCH OF GIRLS, COME AND LOOK, COME AND LOOK!" None the less, he was still happy to see the calendar that was the very meaning of manly-ness.

"Um, Sirius?"

"NO MORE HIPPOGRIFFS, NO MORE HIPPOGRIFFS, HA HA, TAKE THAT PETER!"

"_Sirius."_

"OUR ADOLESANT MANLY-NESS LIVES ON, COME AND LOOK AT THE SACRED MANLY QUIDDTICH CALENDAR JAMES, COME AND LOOK!"

"_SIRIUS!"_

"What?"

"That's not the Sacred Manly Quidditch Calendar."

"Of course it is, idio— dang Peter and all girly hippogriff calendars, how many of these things does he have anyway."

"It'll have to do, now, when was the last time Remus was gone."

"Last night, duh. And we should probably put the days he's sick also, incase that means anything."

James sighed, this was going to take a while.

"Lets get started then."

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Remus blearily opened one eye. Remus promptly shut one eye. Light was bright. Scrapes hurt. He tried opening his eyes again, this time managing to get them both open. But unfortunately for him, this also let him see the condition that he was in. and as everyone knows, you can ignore cuts until you actually look at them. _Then_ you realize that it hurts.

"Owwwww," he moaned, softly, but not softly enough.

"Oh, thank heavens, Remus you're awake." Madam Pomfrey rushed over to his bed. She sounded a little too relieved for Remus to feel entirely comfortable, and being one huge bandage in a hospital bed didn't help this feeling.

"Um, should I not be?" He attempted to sit up, but was shoved gently back down by the worried healer.

"The way you beat yourself up last night, it's a wonder that you're alive at all. You need to thank McGonagall next time you see her too, with out her, you'd probably be six feet under."

Remus moaned and thumped his head on his pillow, "How long am I stuck here?" he whispered hoarsely with a smile. Remus and Madam Pomfrey had grown rather close over the year and a half he had been at Hogwarts. When Dumbledore told her that she would be caring for a werewolf once a month she had been expecting a loud bully, or a kid who never stopped wallowing in self pity. What she got was quite the opposite, she got a kind, sweet, slightly shy little boy with quite the sense of humor. What with him being such a frequent visitor, they had begun to enjoy each other's company, sometimes Remus came up just to talk to the matron about things that his friends couldn't hear. She always listened to his problems and gave answers to the best of her ability, and Remus appreciated all she did for him greatly.

"A week, at the very least." He moaned again, she smiled at him, "Now, if you don't mind me asking, what were you thinking about before you transformed?"

He sighed, or he tried, his lungs weren't up to it yet so soon after being mauled by a werewolf, so instead it turned into a hacking cough. Madam Pomfrey patiently thumped him on the back until it subsided.

"I was thinking about what would happen if I told the others about what I am." He mumbled, his throat burned from all of the potions she had put into his system.

"And that caused you to tear yourself to pieces?" She sounded skeptical. Remus shook his head.

"No, it was what I thought their reactions would be," he paused to catch his breath and to make sure his voice stayed steady.

"They would either hate me because I willingly lied to them for a year and a half, or because I'm a terrible monster."

"Remus Lupin," snapped Madam Pomfrey, "you are NOT a monster. You are a normal boy who gets sick more often than the rest. Other people are lucky, they aren't the ones laying in this bed are they?"

"No," he admitted, "I suppose not, but what do I do, they're bound to find out eventually?"

"Well, if you really want my opinion, I would have to say if they're as great of friends as you say they are, then they'll understand, and they will be glad you trusted them enough to tell them. Eventually." She smiled at him.

Remus would sigh, but he didn't want to end up making himself cough or throw up, as he was well known to do with so many potions taken at once. He knew he'd never have the courage to tell his friends.

"But, what if they don't? What if they _do_ hate me? I've gotten so used to having them around I'd probably _die_ without them. Just keel over. Motionless. Not alive. Gone." He smiled at her.

"No, you'll probably die if you keep thinking about this before you grow fangs and claws to vent out your frustration with the world." He laughed a bit.

"There, that's the spirit. Now time to take a stomach settling draught, you're nauseous, I can tell."

"Awww, do I have to?"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Okay, that's all the days circled, see a pattern Sirius?"

"Nope, only that he leaves once a month."

James sighed. He was worried about Remus, and McGonagall said that if she caught them sneaking around anymore, she would mail his parents.

"Hey James?"

"Hey, what?"

"What does that little circle in the right hand corner mean?"

"Full moon, why?"

"Because, look. He was gone for the last two full moon's at least. Check the other months."

James did. His eyes widened as he looked at Sirius, who was wearing an expression that mirrored his own. It would explain all of the scars on him. It would explain why he always got sick. It would explain all of the wounds, the absences, the homework, and everything. It would explain why their friend was sitting in a hospital bed right now, with no one but an overprotective matron and empty potion bottles for company. It would explain why he was so dang STRANGE! For, no marauder was shy.

"Holy crap." Mumbled Sirius.

"I wonder how Peter's going to take this.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One week later Remus was back in class. He had his homework assignments in on time, he had his school robes all patched up, and he had his health (save for a bandage around his right wrist covering a nasty cut), so all in all, life for one Remus Lupin was going well.

He was at lunch, trying to decide weather he wanted the turkey, or the macaroni to eat when James who had been arguing internally with himself inside sent Sirius a glance.

Sirius nodded.

Peter nodded.

Remus chose macaroni.

James cleared his throat, hopping for the best. Hopping that this wouldn't destroy their friendship.

Sirius looked apprehensive.

Peter looked apprehensive.

Remus added salt.

"Remus?"

"Yeah?"

"We, um. . . well, we have something to tell you. Promise you won't get angry."

"Why would I get angry?"

To tell you the truth, James didn't know either, he had never seen Remus actually mad, annoyed yes, angry no. It just seemed like the thing to say.

"Well, we think we figured out something about you."

Remus went as pale as any ghost. They had an accurate measurement too, nearly headless nick was sitting two seats down.

"And w-what would that be?"

Sirius thought it fitting to howl softly as an answer to the question.

Remus gasped. _THEY KNOW! Oh wow this sucks. They're going to be horribly mad. I lied to them for over a year! Then they're going to be terrified that they stayed in the same dorm as a dark creature. Oh I shouldn't have even come. They're going to leave and then tell everyone what I am. I should have known I couldn't go to school, I risked their lives, they'll never forgive me. I should have just stayed home with mom, she could have taught me. But no, I just had to go, I just had to go and get myself friends just to find out what it was like to loose them. STUPID STUPID STUPID!_

So Remus did what any sensible boy would do in this given situation. He ran as fast as he could out of the hall. Or, rather he_ tried_ to run as fast as he could out of the hall. But fate always has to have its say. This time, it was in the form of a heavily bandaged wrist getting caught on the corner of the table.

"Remus-

"It's okay, I'm going." He freed the bandage, and THEN ran as fast as he could out of the hall.

The teachers watched sadly from the high table as one of their favorite students fled from his friends, hoping that Sirius James and Peter would see sense, and realize that Remus was a good kid. They smiled as the boys called after him.

"Sirius, you IDIOT!" James slapped him upside the head.

The teachers smiled even more, for James spoke the truth.

"_What?_ I thought he'd laugh, oh crap, REMUS, COME BACK HERE!"

"COME ON REMUS." Called James as the three got up to chase after him.

"YOU MORON, COME _BACK!"_ they ran to the entrance hall as Dumbledore watched them chuckling quietly to himself/

"Where'd he go?" asked Sirius.

"Probably to the dorms, or to the beach tree by the lake." Said Peter

"Lets check the dorms first, they're closer." James grabbed their arms to get them to follow, they sprinted up the stairs.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Remus what are you doing," asked Sirius.

The boy was trying not to cry while attempting to tug his shabby trunk through the too small door frame.

"I'm going home." He mumbled miserably.

James gave Sirius another look. Sirius nodded.

"NO!" he yelled. "He's transferred to Ravenclaw to be with his own bookworm kind!"

"Why has this day come so soon!" wailed Sirius, as he threw himself onto Remus in a bear hug that can only be generated by one Sirius Lee Black. "How could you leave us Remus!"

"We have books too! Big thick heavy ones! Please consider us worthy of your great knowledgeable company!"

"Sirius get off, I have to go." He mumbled again as he tried to tug his trunk harder, a few rebellious tears streaking down his sad face.

"Oh, no you don't bookworm." Sirius and James grabbed one arm each and dragged him over to a chair. Remus tried to get up, but Sirius shoved him back down.

"Why're you leaving?" asked Sirius.

"Because I'm a _werewolf._" he said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"So." Said Sirius, Remus looked up.

"_what?"_

"So what." Said Sirius.

"Doesn't matter." Said James.

"Who cares?" said Peter.

"But. . . aren't you guys scared. I could kill you."

"Only on the full moon." Said Sirius, he started this mess, and he was going to clean it up.

"But-

"But what Remus? Do you _want_ us to desert you?"

"Well, no. . . but-

"Why'd you lie, Remus." Asked Sirius, his tone slightly hurt, but it was well masked, he was a Black after all.

"What?"

"Why'd you lie," asked James, "did you think you couldn't trust us?"

"No, not that, it's just. . ." he trailed off, another tear going down his face, he wiped it away angrily.

"It's just what?" asked Sirius.

"well, last time I had a friend, her family found out and told everyone and we had to move, she said she hated me." He mumbled.

"You should know that we aren't like that." Said Sirius with a smile.

"I suppose," he mumbled.

"You suppose right." Said Sirius grinning.

Remus looked up from the floor, a small uncertain smile on his face.

"You mean you really don't care?"

"Of course not." Said James.

"Nope." Said Peter

"Not really." Said Sirius.

"Um. . . Thanks guys."

"You're welcome" said Sirius, "Now, need help unpacking you're trunk?"

Remus grinned wider than any of his friends had ever seen him smile before. And James, Sirius, and Peter returned it as well.

"Yeah, especially with the pillows." Said Remus, as he grabbed a pillow and decked Sirius with it. The others responded accordingly.

That day went down in history as the Pillow Massacre of '71.

**And So It Began**.

so, what'd you think, good, bad awesome, terrible? Just tell me. I was thinking of doing the animagus thing next, unless anybody had any better ideas.

This story is going to have each chapter be a separate story, mainly about James and Sirius, but not completely. So if you have any ideas of important moments for me to put, just say something.

Thanks,

Penguin 2


	4. Chewtoy Repellant

**And So It Began**

James sighed.

"Hey, Sirius?"

"Mmm?"

"Have you ever wondered if there was a way to help Remus?"

"Yes James, because I constantly think of ways to stay in the same room as a blood thirsty werewolf."

"Sirius, focus."

"It's rather hard to do that at two friggin' am."

"We're focusing, we're focusing . . ."

"Right. Well yes, and I got nothing."

"You too?"

"Yep."

James threw down the book he was reading for charms. They had been searching around for an answer for six months, and the end of their second year at Hogwarts was coming fast. And if you really thought about, what better "Welcome back to Hogwarts" present could you give a werewolf than one that kept them from biting themselves, like their paws were some sort of bacon chew toy. James certainly couldn't think of one, he just didn't know precisely what store you could buy "Amazing Chew Toy Repellant" at. Non-metaphorically speaking, he couldn't find the right book.

James sighed again.

"There has to be a way, and if there isn't, I'll find one anyway."

James' only reply from his tired companion was a snore muffled by the pages of the book he was sleeping on.

James shook Sirius awake, he knew it was early . . . very early. And he knew Sirius would be angry. . . VERY angry. But he was determined to find an answer. He wasn't looking for a cure, he knew as well as the next guy that was impossible, but maybe a way to ease the pain a little.

"Sirius."

No response.

"_Sirius."_

No response again, he would have to go in.

James parted the hangings on the big four poster bed. James smiled.

"_Awwwwww."_

His friend was curled up like a little cat, he had the covers pulled up tight to his chin and was rolled over onto his side. He had a slight smile on his face as if dreaming about chicken. Sirius liked chicken. All in all, he looked like a six year old who had just been read their favorite bed time story.

James shook his head. Surly their charms texts didn't qualify as his favorite story.

"Sirius?"

No response

"Sirius."

Hey, he got a mumble!

"_Sirius."_

Sirius rolled over. James sighed and began to poke him.

Ten minuets later, James gasped, Sirius had rolled over again.

He was extremely proud.

Sirius, still in his little cat like ball, finally opened his eyes, and blinked a few time at the light, he then turned his gaze to James, who was grinning like a lunatic by his bed.

"James?" He muttered sleepily.

"Yeah?"

"_Die."_

Sirius put a pillow over his face, curled back up and went to sleep.

He smiled.

Sirius liked chicken.

**Twenty minuets later**

It was now officially 5:00 am. Sirius was not a happy camper.

"What on earth are we doing at this freaking hour of the morning?"

"We are finding chew toy repellant."

Pause

"_What?"_

"Solutions, way to help the werewolf, you with me?"

"No," Sirius sighed wistfully, "My mind is still covered up by the blankets, cushioned by the pillows."

"You're pathetic."

"Pathetic, but with a very cozy mind at the moment."

They trudged to the library in silence, still too tired to form complete sentences.

They left an hour later to meet Remus and Peter in the dorm, this time too disappointed to form complete sentences.

The sight of Remus added to their disappointment, it was the day of the full moon and he looked horrible, only reminding them that they were unable to help him.

They seated themselves at the Gryffindor table; Remus grabbed a flask of pumpkin juice, but nothing to eat.

"Remus?"

He looked up from shadowed eyes, indicating that he got very little sleep the night before.

"Yeah?"

"Eat."

Sirius piled two pancakes onto his plate and handed him the syrup. He sat back and looked expectantly at Remus, who looked at the pancakes and away again. Even the smell of food was making him queasy.

"I'm good."

Sirius sighed and looked at James. James just shook his head, he hadn't found anything. Sirius figured he'd deal with Remus after he read the weekly hate-mail his mother sent him.

A large black owl landed on his plate, successfully ruining his oatmeal. Sirius took the letter cautiously, trying to see if it was hexed, it didn't appear to be so he opened it. He wouldn't, but his mother had charms on the letters, she would know if he didn't read it, and Sirius didn't want to know what she would do to him if he didn't read the letters.

The owl went over to Remus while Sirius scowled at the letter he had been delivered. The owl stuck its head under his hand, Remus patted it on the head absentmindedly, animals tended to like him a lot, seeing how he was part one.

"Apus," called Sirius, still reading the letter, "_Apus."_ He called a little louder, he looked around, and saw the bird with his friend.

"How did you do that?" disbelief was written all over his young face. "That owl only lets my mother pet him," Sirius edged a bit away from Remus, Remus smiled slightly.

"Animals like me a lot, seeing how I'm part one, werewolves aren't dangerous to animals, they actually get along quite well." Remus scratched the owl under its chin, they tended to like that.

James stared, dumbfounded that he hadn't thought of that, Sirius grinned at him and grabbed the owl from Remus.

"I love you Apus," he hugged the owl tightly, the owl bit him on the finger and took off, cuffing Sirius on the head as usual.

James grabbed Sirius' arm and dragged him off.

"Sorry, left my homework…" he muttered and he ran off. Remus looked at Peter, Peter shrugged and continued demolishing his pile of scrambled eggs.

James covered himself and Sirius with the invisibility cloak he kept in his book bag, and together they tore to the restricted section of the library.

"We can't do transfiguration, because we'd still be human and it would require a wand." Muttered James.

"So," said Sirius, completing the thought, "We need to find a way to change completely_ and _at will."

James was grinning at the book in his hands.

"James? James, are you alright."

"Yes Sirius, I'm great, and Remus will be too." He shoved the book at Sirius, who opened it. He smiled.

"It'll take forever."

"I know."

They stared at each other for a moment more, and their grins increased in size if possible.

"_Excellent."_

**And So It Began**

A/n- sorry it took so long, we had track and then the band competitions, and it was a mess. But hey, I like this chapter, and I want to know if you do too, so tell me, I'm shooting for 6 reviews this time. If you give me them, I might update faster.

And it's only polite to review if you put a story on alerts and favorites.


	5. Bambi and Friends

**And So It Began**

"James," whispered Sirius, giving the bubbling potion one final stir.

"What?"

"It's almost done, go get Remus and Peter," Sirius gave the potion another side glance, "Hurry, we're supposed to take it before it cools off."

James groaned and sat up on the desks he had pushed together to lie on. For two years now, they had been using the empty classroom at the back of the seventh floor and apparently, this was the last night he would spend in here. James knew he should feel more excited, this would affect the rest of his life, but he was just too tired. He stood up and walked out the door, assuming that the exit was answer enough for his friend.

It was.

They had all put in a lot of work to become animangi. Sirius was probably the best potion brewer out of all of them, so he made the extremely difficult potion to the best of his ability, the potion was what had delayed them so long, it needed so much time to mature that without it they could have become animangi in their third year instead of fifth with out it, but it was the most crucial part, so they couldn't leave it out.

James did the research for it, he found out how they would transform after they took the potion, how the spell worked that told you what animal you would turn into, and the spell that told you if you did it right, you couldn't very well try and transform into an animal when you had no clue what form your body was supposed to take.

And Peter was the one who snuck around. He was the one who got the books for James out of the restricted section and the potion ingredients for Sirius from Slughorn's stores. He was smaller and quieter than the other two and he had only been caught once. They wouldn't be nearly as far as they were now with out him.

Tonight Peter was currently in the dorm, keeping Remus from getting suspicious. Sirius had said that the potion would probably be ready that night and they couldn't risk Remus finding out until it was time, hence Peter in the dorm.Peter's spur of the momentstory was the James and Sirius were pranking McGonagall, something that Remus wouldn't want to be apart of.

James muttered the password to get into the tower. He crept quietly up the stairs to avoid waking the few people still in the common room who had fallen asleep in their books. He opened the door to the dorm and found Remus asleep on his bed and Peter feigning sleep, waiting for James.

"Is it ready?" he asked, keeping his voice down to keep from waking Remus in case it wasn't.

"Yep," yawned James. He walked over to Remus' bed and shook his shoulder, the boy blearily opened one eye.

"How'd it go?" he asked sitting up, rubbing his eyes.

"Um. . .great," said James, shooting a questioning look to Peter. Peter nodded, it was a good answer.

"Hey, we need you to come with us, um, _fast_. So if you could just, you know, trust us, we'll explain on the way."

Remus raised his eyebrows at the two nervous teens at the foot of his bed.

"Okay."

---------------------

"Promise you won't get mad," said Peter, eyeing Remus with a look of anticipation.

Remus looked from Peter to James, who was nodding his head, gesturing for him to answer.

"It depends on what you did."

James smiled.

"Well, you know, you just happen to be a werewolf, right?"

"Yes," Remus eyed them shrewdly.

"And you kind of, well, rip yourself up like a bacon chew toy on full moons, right?"

Remus sighed wearily, "Yes, James, I know that."

"Well," said James proudly, "We found a way to keep you from doing that!"

Remus couldn't take it, he just laughed.

"Hey! What's so funny?" demanded Peter.

"You seriously deluded yourself into believing that there was a way to help me?" he laughed.

"Yes," said James indignantly, "I still don't see what's so funny."

Remus stopped laughing enough to explain, "James," he spoke in a tone that suggested he was speaking to an especially slow six year old. "People have been trying to find a cure for lycanthropy for centuries, not one of them has succeeded. Do you really think that three 15 year old wizards will be able to do it?" he laughed once more.

James and Peter patiently waited for him to finish.

Remus realized that they weren't laughing, or shouting April Fools, even though it was January. They seemed to have problems when it came to deciphering when exactly April 1st was. They were dead serious.

"You're kidding," he asked.

"No," said Peter in a 'duh' sort of tone.

Remus stared at them open mouthed in shock. They continued their walk, James leading them to the empty classroom at the end of the seventh floor.

"We're here," said James, pointing to the classroom.

"Didn't this use to be the old divination room?" asked Remus.

"Who knows?"

They walked in and were hit by a horrible stench.

"Ugh, Sirius what is that?" asked Remus, immediately reaching up to cover his nose.

Sirius himself had his robes pulled up over his face, leaving only his eyes to be seen.

"You won't be complaining when you realize what this will do for you," he smiled, waving smoke away.

"If you want me to take that, then you're out of your puny little mind." Remus stated, still staring at the potion. In its final stage, it had turned sort of a nasty grayish orange.

"Well, good thing you're not taking it," said James. Sirius began pouring out the potion, it was runny and thin, every once in a while, a purple chunk would come out and splash in the cup. Peter looked about ready to throw up. James picked his cup up and looked to Sirius for instruction, he flipped through a text book laid across one of the desks.

"What's going on, what're you guys doing?"

Sirius ignored Remus and found the page, he turned to James, reading the passage.

"This potion is much like the Polyjuice Potion in the sense that you must have a bit of the animal you are to transform into. Add the bit, wait for the bubbling to die down, then drink." Sirius paused waiting for James to get that far, James added the bit of fur from a stag they found in the forbidden forest, and drank it,when he did he nearly gagged.

"It tastes like rotten cabbage!" Sirius just smiled at him.

"You need to will yourself to become the animal, do not be afraid to use large amounts of magic and energy, for the change back will be much easier."

Remus' eyes widened in recognition, "No way, you guys aren't-

But he was cut off as James transformed slowly into a handsome stag.

"What— why— how?" he spluttered, not knowing which question to ask first. His friend had just transformed into a stag!

"Remus," said Sirius, more serious than Remus had ever seen him, he was still smiling, but hey, you can't have everything, "Have you ever hurt an animal?"

He shook his head slowly, a feeling of dread rising in him, he knew what they were thinking now.

"Well, this is your answer," Sirius gestured to the stag that was James in the middle of the room.

"Are you kidding me?" exclaimed Remus, "You're still humans, whether you're in the skin of an animal or not! I would still hurt you, you can't do this!"

Sirius smiled and shook his head, "Nope, we did our homework on this, with a simple transfiguration spell you would still be human, but with the animagus transformation, it's just that, a transformation, you completely become the animal you transform into, you keep your mind and personality, but that's it."

Remus still looked distressed, he shook his head. "No, what if it didn't work right, I would hurt you, I'd never be able to live with my self."

"There's a spell to test if it worked properly, observe." Sirius took his wand out and pointed it at James the Stag. He spoke the incantation and James was surrounded in green smoke. James slowly turned back into a human.

"I did it!" he cheered, and promptly began what he called a "happy dance" around the room.

"And, Mr. Moony, the green smoke meant that he did it perfectly." Said Sirius smugly, "You next Peter."

Peter gave his potion one last disgusted look, pinched his nose and downed it. He closed his eyes in deep concentration and he too, began to slowly transform.

He turned into a brown rat.

Sirius took out his wand again and cast the spell. Peter was surrounded in green smoke, and he transformed back, grinning that he'd actually managed to do it.

Sirius showed James the page in the book that had the spell on it and took his potion. Sirius was soon replace by a big black dog.

"Oh the irony," muttered Remus, of course Sirius would be a dog, fate wouldn't allow a boy named Sirius to be anything else. But that didn't stop it from being a horrible cliche.

Sirius was soon surrounded by green smoke and human again.

All Remus could do was gape, when they'd found out about his condition, he thought that they'd abandon him, they didn't, but that didn't keep Remus from expecting that they would any minuet, who could actually be comfortable being friends with a werewolf? He assumed all those nights they were away, they were just trying to avoid sleeping in the same room with a werewolf, but apparently they were trying to help him, it just didn't make any sense.

"Why are you guys doing this?"

"Because we're your friends and we don't like seeing you suffer," smiled James, "Is it that hard to believe?"

Remus nodded, still looking compleatly bewlidered.

"Well, get used to it, because we ain't goin' anywhere," grinned Sirius, he turned to look at all of his comrades, "Now, " he announced, "I say, because Moony has a super cool marauder nickname, which I invented, we should all have super cool marauder nicknames, all who agree, please raise your hand."

They all did.

"Good, now James?"

"Yeah?"

"I vote you Bambie."

**And So It Began**

A/N— Sorry it took so long.It is summer break and I have been swimming, but the site messinguplast nightdidn't help. I appoligise for the shortness and badness if this chapter, butIhavea well written one shot up, hint hint. It's called Her Quilted Northern.I just wanted to know, should I put in their first full moon? I already have it written, but I could skip to another event, like the first time James asks Lily out or something, I just wanted to know what you thought.


	6. illegal actions

**And So It Began**

**A/N— Happy (very late) Fourth of July, me fellow Americans! As for the British, well, I suppose you're probably over there celebrating the day you got rid of us for good too! Aren't fireworks fun?**

James groaned as he rolled out of bed.

Why did he groan?

Because it was Monday.

James hated Mondays, who didn't? You had to get up early after staying up late on Sunday to do last minuet essays, the teachers gave you extra homework to make up for the stuff they couldn't give you over your two blessed days off, and the teachers pets were unnaturally chipper.

Being chipper on a Monday should be illegal.

"Wake up Prongs, Padfoot, Wormtail! Greet the day, for today is Monday!"

"Moony if you don't shut up this instant so help me I will impale you with stick and watch calmly as you bleed to death," muttered Sirius.

"That's the spirit, Sirius, now UP! Another wonderful day of learning is ahead of us!"

James shut his curtains tighter and buried his head in a pillow, no way was he getting out of this dorm until there was only five minuets left before class started.

He groaned as the curtains flew open.

"Go 'way," he moaned.

"No, get up; I want breakfast before we begin this glorious week of books and homework."

James rolled over again, but found himself dangling in the air upside down in the air by his ankle.

"Not cool," he muttered.

"Neither is school, but what Moony wants Moony gets," complained Sirius as he pulled on a pair of pants.

Remus calmly ignored his bitter friend and turned to James.

"Are you going to get your lazybuns out of bed now?" He asked, sounding for all the world like a patronizing mother.

"Well, seeing as you did that part for me," James gestured to his butt while hanging in the air, "Do I really have a choice?"

Remus smiled and let James down.

"Now, I am leaving so I won't be late for class, as for you guys," he grinned, "Have fun being late for McGonagall."

The three boys groaned in unison as Remus practically skipped out of the dorm.

"You're committing illegal actions!" James shouted after him.

--------------

James slid into his seat in transfiguration the second before the bell rang, still munching on a bagel from the great hall.

McGonagall gave him a warning look, which he just smiled at, before she began the lesson.

"Today we will be getting a new seating arrangement due tocertain _problems_ with the old one," McGonagall sent a withering look at the corner where Sirius and Snape were seated, each trying to antagonize the other as much as possible. Sirius gave up with the insults and turned to a favorite method among five year olds, he pulled his nose up and stuck his tongue out.

"So please, gather up your things and I shall place you in your new seat."

Sirius made one last ugly face atSnape andpractically ran to the other side of the room, next to James, Peter and Remus.

"I am so happy I could SING!" he exclaimed as he did a little happy dance, "Who knew a Monday could actually bring some good into the world."

"I did," said Remus, Sirius glared, sure he did ask, but there was no need to prove his 'All Monday's are the Creation of Satan' theory wrong.

"Mr. Black, right here," The professor pointed to the front and center desk.

"Ah, professor, you're trying to torture me."

James couldn't tell if it was just him, or if McGonagall'slips DIDactually turn upa bit at the ends or not.

"Take your seat Mr. Black. Mr. Potter, right here."

She pointed to a desk near the middle of the room, though it was still closer to the front rather than the back, James rolled his eyes and took a seat next to a red headed girl that he'd seen around the tower before, but never really talked to.

"Mr. Lupin, next to James if you will," seeing his slight smile she added, "Maybe _you_ can get the boy to pay attention."

Remus laughed, "I'll try my best Professor."

James stared at the girl, he had seen her once or twice from a distance but never up close.

She was pretty, he decided. Not hot, nor cute, and not adorable, just plain and simple pretty.

He smiled at her.

"Hi, I'm James, I don't believe I've had the pleasure of talking to you before."

Red Head looked at him suspiciously, "I'm Lily," she said eventually.

"Pleased to meet you."

She smiled politely and nodded and looked away, the look on her face suggesting that she had either been talking with a rather ugly alien, or a mentally impaired two year old, or maybe a combination of the two, and wasn't quite sure what to think.

She looked up as Remus plopped his stuff down on James's other side, and smiled again, though this one happy, rather than weirded out.

"Remus, hi!'

"Lily? Oh, hi! I didn't know you had this class with us, I thought you had it in the afternoon."

"Yup."

"That's great!"

_'What are they, library buddies?_ thought James bitterly, annoyed that Lily liked Remus better than him.

"It conflicted with Care of Magical Creatures earlier but I dropped the class to have a normal schedule."

"I would too."

They silenced as the teacher cleared her throat to begin the lesson.

James, stillfeeling rather left out after the conversation, sent a piece of parchment over to Remus, making sure to get it on his notes so the boy would actually notice it.

_How do you know the Red Head?_

**She's in my ancient runes class**

_Oh. She's pretty_

**Yes James, she is**

_Are you dating her?_

**No, I'm not**

_Would you mind if I asked her out?_

**No**

_So I can?_

**Yes**

_Thanks Moony_

**Pay attention Prongs**

_But this class is so BORING!_

**I don't care, pay attention**

_But Moony, I already know it all_

**Don't care**

_Fine, but doesn't Sirius look happy in the front of the room?_

**It looks more like he's sucking a lemon, kind of funny**

_Remind me to laugh at him later_

**I will if you pay attention**

_Fine_

James threw the parchment into his bag, took out a clean piece, and began to take notes on the method of transfiguring a parrot into a hat.

The Next Day

"MY BOLOGNA HAS A FIRST NAME—

Remus groaned and rolled over, this must be James paying him back for getting him up on time yesterday. Nobody could naturally sing that badly.

"What's got you up so early?" Asked Sirius, crawling out of bed.

"A combination of horrible singing and a head splitting migraine," he moaned. Remus put his head between his pillow to block out the noise and to cushion his head. It was a win-win idea.

Sirius opened the curtains to Remus' bed and sat down. Remus looked at the clock on his bedside table. It was 4:00 am, the light from the dorm was spilling into the bed through the gap in the curtains, half blinding him.

"IT'S O-S-C-A-R—

"The light Sirius," Remus moaned from underneath his pillow tomb. Sirius' eyes widened, he'd heard about this before from muggle television.

"The light is BAD Moony, stay away, PLEASE, I don't know what I'd do without you!"

Remus burrowed deeper.

"_Moony!"_

"It burns Sirius, the light burns, it's hurting my eyes."

"See, I told you, now walk away, turn your back—

"MY BOLOGNA HAS A SECOND NAME, IT'S M-A-Y-E-R!

"Walk towards my voice, don't go to the end of the tunnel—

"Will you _please_ shut the curtains, it burns," he moaned pitifully. Sirius slapped him on the arm.

"Ouch," he muttered.

"I thought you were dying, you mislead me!" Sirius glared, "Stupid furball,"

"Floppy ears."

"Bone cruncher!

"Cat muncher!"

"FRIENDS OF PRONGS!" sang James, coming out of the bathroom in a towel, grinning like a lunatic. Nevermind the fact his friends were argueing over stupid things due to chronic tiredness, he was having a great day.

"James, you're grinning like a lunatic." Said Sirius.

"Really?" asked Remus from his pillow fort.

"Yep, he is."

"Oh," said Remus, "Well, who gave him the right to be happy?"

"The world my friends! Mother Nature gave us this beautiful day and wonderful friends, why shouldn't I be happy?"

"He's asking someone out today isn't he?" asked Sirius, also having seen this before, just not on TV, he had the displeasure of seeing it personally.Remus nodded.

"Now that I'm done singing for sheer JOY on this beautiful occasion, we should make our grand way to the great hall and eat!"

"I'll never understand why he always feels the need to be overly cheery before he asks somebody out," muttered Peter to Remus, as he gave James a critical stare.

"Nobody does, or is ever likely to, Wormtail," answered Sirius.

"Come! Come my fine furry friends! To the hall!" He then left the dorm, looking for all the world like a proud superhero who was missing his side kicks.

"We better go with him to make sure he doesn't hurt himself," muttered Remus.

"I suppose."

The three boys got dressed and headed in the same direction that their friend had gone; they found him in the hall with the other people who couldn't sleep and decided to just go and get breakfast.

Sirius sat down in his usual seat across from James and picked up a piece of toast.

"Why do you do this before you ask someone out?"

"Because, girls don't like boring moody guys, they like happy funny ones," he explained, whilst pouring himself a bowl of Frosted Flakes.

Sirius gave him a weird look and went back to his toast. "Alrighty then."

James grinned at him over a cup of orange juice and a plate of waffles, "When's the last time a girl turned me down?"

Remus thought about that. And thought some more and still drew a blank.

"I'll never understand you." He muttered, grabbing a jug of pumpkin juice and pouring himself a glass.

They sat there for a few hours, which sadly enough was NOT the longest they'd ever spent in there. Though, that was a prank they preferred not to think about unless they absolutely had to. Sirius _still_ began to whimper at the slightest mention of it. Come to think of it, Peter did too, but he whimpered at a lot of things.

"Class, me amigos! To class!" Shouted James, he grabbed them by the arms and pulled them to their feet, consequently knocking over the entire jug of pumpkin juice, and dousing the bacon in it. But James didn't care, this was the day he got himself a new girlfriend! And what was a few bits of ruined bacon compared to a pretty girl? Not much.

Though it did taste really good doused in syrup…

Remus wagged a hand in front of James's thoughtful face.

"Prongs! Class, remember?"

"Wha— OH! Right, lets go. Onward to Transfiguration!"

And he once more marched out of the room, greatly resembeling a super hero, only this time with his deeply exasperated side-kicks only a few paces behind.

They entered the class ten minuets early, much to their professors surprise.

James dumped his book bag next to his desk and parked his bum in the chair.

'_What should I say? Should I go simple with 'Go out with me Lily?"_

_Or I suppose I could do something cool, like, "You. Me. Hogsmead. 'Kay?'_

_Or I could serenade I suppose. How about_

_Lily my dearest, you sit next to me_

_So how about we go on the trip to Hogsmead_

_We could buy ourselves lunch and look in the shops_

_And I could pick up your bagsif ever one drops._

…_no, not gonna happen._

_Crap! Here she comes!_

"Hey," James muttered huskily, rumpling up his hair.

Lily looked at him in some concern, "Are you sick, you're voice is all messed up?"

James pretended to clear his throat, "Nope, just something caught in my throat. Hey, I was wondering, would like to go to Hogsmead with me?

She looked genuinely sad.

"I'm sorry, I would, but I'm already going with somebody else."

Even his hair seemed to wilt as he asked, "Who?"

She smiled apologetically.

"Sirius Black."

James turned in his seatto glare at his friend, Sirius felt James's eyes and looked back, he grinned and twiddled his fingers in a wave.

"You—

"Time for class students, sit down, sit down," called McGonagall.

James sat and silently fumed all through the lecture about what they did wrong yesterday with their parrots, he fumed even more when a parchment ball bounced off his head and fell onto his desk.

What's up with you, you looked like you wanted to murder me

_Correction. I DO want to murder you_

Why?

_I wanted to ask Lily out, you prat!_

Woops. SHE"S the one we woke up forat that ungodly hour for you to ask out in a peppy manner?

_Yes, Padfoot._

Awww, I'm sorry, if I'd have known I wouldn't have done it, does that help?

…_a little. _

Good, I'm glad, you can ask her out after we break up if you want. You could do the whole, caring sympathetic act.

_Moony's better at that then we are Padfoot._

Well, that's because he's a boring bookworm and we're attractive jocks.

_Of course, of course. Well, I don't want to murder you in your bed in the dead of night anymore._

Well, that's good to know. I'm glad you don't want to murder me in my bed in the dead of night anymore. It sounds painful, and I don't want my best mate sent to Azkaban

_Padfoot, Moony's giving me this really evil look right now, so I have to start paying attention. _

Have fun

_Not likely_

James grudgingly turned his attention back to the teacher, done fuming, but now pouting.

Once Sirius and Lily broke up, he began to ask every day, and Lily, having sat by him long enough to really get to know James, always answered no. And with each no, he began to like her even more, now he wasn't asking her out for the sake of a pretty girlfriend, now he was asking her out because he really liked her.And stillshe answered no, always no. But as he told his friends every day, she _would_ say yes someday. Someday she would have to give in and go out on one measly date.

Meanwhile he still had his ice cream and his friends to comfort him.

James took another spoonful of the chocolate desert.

Someday…

**A/N— Sorry, I had next to no inspiration for this chapter, so I took a break and wrote a bunch of oneshots. But I have returned, and with it came your third to last chapter.**

**Please review, I would like at least five. There are more people than that on the story alerts, and if you put a story on alerts, it's only polite to review it. **

**Come on, only three more ) July/15**


	7. Rejected

**Rejected**

**A/N: HAPPY DAY BEFORE TURKEY DAY AMERICANS!!!! The turkey has been named (Pierre le Dinner), he has been given a job (He was the president of Canada, they have one, they just don't know it) and a family (He was Rudolph's loving little brother) and a reason of death (He was at the north pole, seeing his brother and died in a tragic ice skating accident involving penguins and some rather vile bean burritos) and will soon be sacrificed. May he rest in our stomachs. I am currently toying with the idea of dressing up as a pilgrim, whilst I do this, enjoy the chapter.**

**------------------------------------------- **

"Remus?"

"Yes?"

"Have you seen Sirius?

"Nope."

James stared. How could the boy who was so helpful when it came to answering useless questions such as why clouds form to look like hippos, and how come McGonagall was such a cranky pants, and why the giant squid was giant, but he couldn't tell him where Sirius went.

"…Do you honestly care?"

"Honestly?"

"That's what I said, isn't it."

"Right. Then no, I really don't, I get to sit in the common room, in a chair, by my self, and read a book. In peace and quiet. With no danger of dung bombs being repeatedly thrown at my head. I'm quite content."

James gasped and glared at his friend.

"How could you say such a thing about your friends?"

Remus gave him 'a look.' And Remus' 'looks' weren't just any 'looks.' They were very frightening, 'I'm going to transfigure you into the anal region of a donkey if you don't leave me alone' sort of looks.

"Do I really need to show you the scars to _prove_ the reason I say such things about my friends?"

James sighed, "No, I suppose you don't. But when I find Padfoot lying on the ground bleeding profusely and I can't lug his morbidly obese body to the hospital wing in order to save him by myself, just guess who I'm going to blame when he dies?"

Remus stared at him over the edge of his book.

"Peter."

James glared at him and left the common room in a huff.

-------------------------------------------------------------

"Sirius? What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing, James?"

"Lying in the middle of a corridor."

"Well, then, that would be what I'm doing. Question answered."

James stared down at his best friend, who was currently lying in the middle of a corridor holding a single daisy in his hands resting on his chest.

"You do know that this hallway is full of classrooms, right?"

"Yes, James, I do."

"And you do know that there are fifth years in all of them this hour, right?"

"Yes James, I do."

"And when the bell rings, you do know that they'll all come stampeding out of the rooms with no regard to your safety, don't you?"

"Yes, I'm counting on it."

Sirius turned from his friend to stare dramatically down the hallway as James lay down next to him.

"And why to you want to be trampled by many students trying to escape learning?"

Sirius looked away, but not before James caught the haunted look that had taken up residence in his eyes at the question.

"Sirius, what happened?"

The boy shook his head, and if James' eyes weren't fooling him, the beginnings of tears had formed in his eyes.

"Sirius?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

James stared, when he told Remus that he would blame him when he had to drag Sirius's grievously injured body to the infirmary, he hadn't expected to actually have to follow through with that notion.

"C'mon, it'll help."

"No."

Sirius continued staring vacantly at the end of the hallway, absent mindedly fiddling with the daisy in his hands.

"You were fine this morning—

"It seems years ago."

James turned his head to stare at his friend.

"Too overdramatic?"

"Yes."

"I apologize."

"Thank you. What happened, I thought you were going to ask Michelle out today."

The haunted, distressed look returned to his features in full force and his quickly refilled eyes filled with unshed tears.

"Sirius, what happened?" asked James, beginning to get seriously worried. "Is everything alright?"

Sirius turned to glare at the boy lying next to him.

"James, if everything was alright, I would be annoying Moony in the common room, and getting ready for dinner, in which I would be sitting next to Michelle, and most importantly, I would not be lying here, waiting for my Trampling de la Fifth Years!" Sirius exploded. "So I think we can gather that no, everything is not alright."

"What happened?" asked James.

Sirius sniffed a little sniff and muttered quietly

"She said no."

James's head snapped to look at Sirius. That didn't happen every day. In fact, he didn't think it had ever happened….

"Oh. Did you really like her?" asked James tenderly, though his sympathy was in limited supply considering he was shut down once every day, guaranteed.

Sirius scoffed. "Pssh, no. But it's the principal of the matter. I ask a girl out, the girl says yes, and all is good and happy in the world. But she said no. Now what's to follow, more rejections? James, no offence mate, but I'm scared of turning into you."

James stared indignantly at his friend. Then he sighed.

"It is a rather sad existence."

Both boys sat, lamenting the state of their poor nonexistent romances.

Until the bell rang.

"Crap! Sirius, you may have to problem being trampled, but I'd like to avoid it!" shouted James over the thunder of hundreds of chairs scrapping across the floor the cacophony of hundreds of pairs of feet moving towards the doors that were all being pushed open.

"Shield spell moron!"

"Moony confiscated my wand when I hexed that second year to pick his nose!"

"Right!" The students entered the hall, they tripped and stepped over the poor seventh years lying on the floor. Some of them apologizing, some not even noticing that they were crushing a body under their gigantic feet.

One of the many, he'd lost count, that stepped on Sirius, started to apologize, but then noticed just who it was under her. She looked a little too old to be one of the fifth years, she might have been one of the seventh years taking advanced charms.

The girl, who had looked rather sweet with her black hair pulled into a pony tail, turned to glare at Sirius.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Being trampled, do you mind, you're standing on my bladder."

"Why do you want to be trampled?" She asked, clearly with no intention of moving.

"Because, you my fair maiden, have said no to me."

"And I broke your record, is that why?" she asked angrily.

"Yes. Your point?"

She smiled sweetly at him.

"Oh, no point." She said. Then, making sure to dig her heels into his stomach, hopped off of the poor boy. She strode purposefully down the hall.

Then stopped and looked back, waves of fifth years moving around her.

"Oh, and Black?"

Sirius looked up hopefully.

"Yes."

_"Avis!"  
_

With a loud bang, a horde of birds flew out of her wand and began to attack Sirius, and James, who was apparently guilty by association. She grinned wickedly and strode proudly away, shoulders erect.

"James?" asked Sirius, through the flock of sparrows.

"Yeah," answered James, trying to cough up a feather.

"Forget what I said before alright?"

"Why."

"Because," He stared at the end of the hallway that Michelle just disappeared down.

"I think I'm in love."

**A/N: **Well, sorry it took about, oh, maybe four months. Band marching was over, volleyball is over, finals are over. But well, my friend has had some things going on that I have to say are FAR more important than speedy updates.

On the plus side, I finished my twenty page paper on Allusions, jeez, we're only lowly freshmen, why give that kind of work. We're supposed to slack off and annoy the sevies, not stay up into the wee hours in the morning and go to bed dreaming that we're still staring at a computer screen, like we had been for the past seven hours (All of which I did). I know that after this long, I have no right to ask, but for old time's sake….

Drop a review, huh?

Thank you muffin lady for helping me with my Turkey's life story last night )


	8. Closet Grade Obsessive

**And So It Began**

**A/N: For plot-ish reasons, the last chapter has been changed, they were in sixth year then. And I totally redid chapter one and two, and I must say, I think they're marginally better, though still kind of pathetic.  
**

Chapter Eight, Part Uno

"Remus?"

"Yes James?"

"Why are we studying in a library at two a.m.?"

"Because I'm a frighteningly horrible person and love to see you in pain, it makes me smile inside."

James momentarily lifted his head from the copy of Charms for Dummies, which was currently being used as a pillow instead of a reference resource, to glare at Remus.

"Remus?"

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry, but at the current time of two a.m. you're about as frighteningly horrible as a drunken bunny rabbit wearing t-shirt supporting world peace."

Remus rolled his eyes.

"I should be offended. But if you must know, you're in here, because I, being responsible, am making you do your homework now knowing that you will completely ignore it over break in a fit of holiday cheer."

James actually sat up in his chair in indignity.

"How come Sirius and Peter don't have to endure this pain then? Huh? Is it some sort of James bias you have?"

"Don't be stupid," answered Remus, grunting as he tried to push a tome the size of a cow over to the side. "You know Peter's mom will help him through the work, and quite frankly I'm not up to tutoring him tonight, and Sirius, mister closet grade obsessive, already has his holiday work done." Remus shoved a dictionary at James. "And there's no such thing as a James bias, look it up."

James muttered something incoherently, pulled his charms book towards him, stuck The Fuzzy Book of Fuzzy Creatures on top of it as a cushion and was out like a light in less than ten seconds.

Remus shook his head and continued with his transfiguration essay.

---------------------------------

James groaned as he began to wake up. He found himself lying in his bed, not spread across the library's tables and assumed that Remus had levitated him to his room. He'd have to thank the boy later.

After another nap.

James snuck a look at his clock, cursed himself for being an early riser, and curled back up in a cat like fashion under the thick Hogwarts blankets. He was just about to drift off into dreamland too, but as soon as his eyes closed, the dorm door opened and closed rather loudly.

James ignored it, figuring it was just one of his band of Merry Mischief Makers coming back from a trip to the kitchens, he rolled over and attempted to go to sleep again.

There was another problem.

Now that whoever it was had re-entered the dorm, they didn't go back to sleep like a normal human being. No, they paced.

And paced.

And continued to pace.

And stopped.

And paced some more.

James took the curtains, ripped them apart in a manor that was much more violent than it needed to be, and was about to proceed to give said marauder (or Frank) a piece of his mind.

But he didn't.

Because it was Sirius who was pacing back and forth. He still wore a pair of too short blue plaid pj pants that he'd had as long as James could remember and a white t-shirt. James cocked his head, Sirius always changed as soon as possible after waking, something was wrong.

He was pulling at his hair, muttering to himself as he paced, his breath was short and quick; like he was panicking. He stopped once, to search through his school bag, but didn't appear to find what he was looking for, seeing as he let out a distressed groan and began to pace again. He set something down on top of the desk.

James looked at the other beds. None of the curtains were open, they were all asleep still. He cast a silencing charm around their hangings and turned to his clearly distraught friend.

"Sirius?"

The boy jumped about a mile high.

"Yeah, James?"

James sat up to see his friend better. "Is there something wrong?"

Sirius shook his head, if James hadn't seen him about ten seconds ago he would have never believed that Sirius had been pacing about the dorm like some sort of nicotine deprived father-to-be in a waiting room, or any other such pacer for that matter.

"No, of course not."

His body language did nothing to tell James contrary, but there was something in Sirius' eyes. Something that wasn't right.

"You were pacing. You're still in your pj's, I may not be that bright, but I'm not stupid. What's wrong?"

Sirius couldn't bring himself to look James in the eye as he proceeded to lie to him. Again.

"I'm fine. I just don't know what to get you all for Christmas and I can't think of anything."

James rolled his eyes and cast silencing charms around the other student's hangings. No need for them to hear things that weren't meant for their ears.

"You bought our presents last week. I helped you pick them out." James crossed his arms as he stared Sirius down. He always got a bit funny around the school holidays, but this was much more extreme. Sirius may be loveably dim, but he wasn't forgetful.

"You're not going to let this go are you?" Asked Sirius, there was the sound of forced amusement in his voice as he put on a semi-realistic smile for his friend. Nobody else but James would have been able to tell it was faked.

James smiled back, as long as Sirius could laugh, he'd get through whatever it was he was going through. He'd come around eventually.

"Nope, I'm not"

Sirius nodded and ran a hand through his hair, smoothing it down where it still stuck up from its being pulled.

"I'm gonna go down for breakfast, I assume you're going back to sleep?" asked Sirius, already knowing the answer before even asking the question.

"You got it; I've got to write a letter to mum too, telling her I'll be home for Christmas."

The look reentered Sirius's eyes again, though this time it lacked that frightened panicky look and settled on dread. Sirius hadn't moved a muscle and already James knew he was hiding something.

"That's cool, I'll see you in the hall."

"Yeah," James muttered to himself as Sirius strode purposefully out of the room. "Yeah, you will."

-------------------------------

James tried to go back to sleep. He honestly and for truly did. Though no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't shake the feeling that there was something he should know, something that he didn't know.

He gave up on sleep altogether and went to write the letter to his mum at the small desk in the dorm.

He grabbed a piece of parchment and a quill and set out to write, but where he was about to scrawl the words 'Dear Mum and Dad,' there was already writing. In fact, the whole piece of parchment had been written all over.

It was a letter addressed to Sirius in a hand writing that looked vaguely familiar but he couldn't quite place.

He knew he shouldn't, but it may have something to do with why Sirius was acting so strangely.

Er, well. Stranger than normal. The boy had always been a bit out of the ordinary.

In the end, his concern for his cocky friend overcame his noble nature and he began to read.

_Dear Mr. Black,_

_I received your letter, and I'm deeply sorry to say, my answer must be no. _

_I have checked with all of your other teachers, I hope you do not mind, and they all reported that while you are quite possibly the most aggravating student that they had ever been forced to teach (I'm inclined to agree with them), that you have had straight O's in all of their classes, dating all the way back to the beginning of the second semester in your first year._

_As you know, your mother has asked all of your teachers to send home monthly grade checks to make sure you are doing your work, your brother too, and I must say with that good of a record, I don't think she'll mind one measly Exceeds Expectations in Herbology. Much better than you brother has, but you didn't hear that from me._

_As I am a teacher, I cannot lie to a student's parents about their progress in my class. If you can find the essay and turn it in, I can still give you partial credit on it which should bump you up to an O, but honestly, I don't see what all of the fuss is about. I would have been ecstatic to have your grades when I was a student. Though you never struck me as a person who really cared about grades that much, I must say, I have been pleasantly surprised…_

_Congratulations on your good marks, and I hope you keep up the good work. I'll be handing your grade to McGonagall on Sunday. _

_Professor Sprout_

The letter was dated Saturday, it was now Monday. James shook his head; Sirius, Remus, and he had some of the top grades in the year, he could see Remus doing something like this, but not Sirius. But then again, Sirius was always different when it came to his mother. Why would he be so scared not to bring home straight O's though, Sirius had never shown any inclination to impress his mother. If anything, he delighted in tormenting her.

James headed down to the great hall, clad in his pj's as Sirius had been, remembering at the last minuet to take the charms off of his friend's curtains.

_Closet Grade Obsessive, indeed._

---------------------------------

James yawned as he sat down across from Sirius, curling his stocking feet underneath him so he was sitting criss-cross-applesause. Sirius wordlessly passed the plate of pancakes across the table to his breakfast companion.

"You doing anything for Christmas?" James asked casually, attempting to start up a conversation.

"Nope. I'm staying at school for the break. You?" Sirius replied, seemingly calmed down from the earlier freak out he was in.

"I'm going home. I was planning on asking if you could come over for the holidays, would you want to?" asked James, reaching across the table for the syrup.

Sirius looked up through his long bangs and gave him a weak grin. "I'd love to, but I don't think I can."

James looked up curiously, "Why not?" Maybe he was about to spill; he never could hide anything too long. His naturally cheery disposition made it hard for his conscience to handle it.

Sirius sighed and ran a hand through his hair, a nervous habit of his. "Because, I have a low grade in Herbology, Mother's really strict about grades and she's going to be pissed. I don't think I'll see the outside of my room all summer."

James stared curiously, why was she so strict on Sirius, when Regulus Black was well known for bad grades. "Your brother doesn't have good grades does he?"

Sirius scoffed, "Of course he doesn't, he probably can't spell his own name right. But he's not the "rebellious" one. He's not the one who needs to be watched and monitored and punished accordingly. He's not the heir." He said it bitterly.

James nodded.

Sirius sighed. "And its Monday, hate-mail day. I shudder to think what she did to that thing."

"How would she know your grades, they don't send out grade cards until break starts. You've got a week still."

The boy rolled his eyes in disbelief, "The woman actually has weekly grade checks sent home if you'd believe it."

James made sure his face was one of carefully composed disbelief. He hadn't read the letter.

No.

What is this letter of which you speak?

"That's insane."

Sirius nodded his head in agreement, "Fits her character perfectly, no?"

They sat in the hall, discussing school work, and all other various topics that could be discussed in the time period before they had to go and get dressed in something other than their PJ's for classes, and pick up Remus and Peter, who luckily weren't woken up at an unnatural hour by the sounds of slamming and frantic pacing.

Peter lay his head down on the table after eating his fill of pancakes.

"Mail's arriving." Remus muttered, looking up at the swarm of owls.

Sirius groaned and joined Peter in the Head on the Table club. An elegant black owl was not deterred and flew down to great him.

Sirius looked up through his bangs at the creature, which plopped the letter in Peter's old pancake plate, successfully getting it all sticky, his eyes widened.

It was a red letter.

James winced.

"Howler?"

Sirius shook his head, his eyes still wide, "I wish."

The letter moved across the table as if it were magnetically attracted to Sirius' hand. Sirius took the letter, his face perfectly composed once more, and began to open it. Once he had made the first tear, a wince crossed his face and his eyes shut tight.

Remus looked at the letter curiously, taking care not touch it. It looked like a howler, alright. It had the same red outside caused by the spell that made it scream, but there was something subtly different about the letter. Remus saw it, there was a black trim going around the entire thing, shimmering in the light from the hall. A personal howler, one only the recipient could hear.

Sirius was biting down on his lip now; it was turning white with the pressure.

"Are you alright?" asked James, staring at his friend confused and scared.

Sirius dropped his head into his hands, breathing in short, quiet gasps. After a moment he sat up straight, his eyes wide and surprise, not to mention worry.

"Are you alright?" James repeated, more insistently this time.

Sirius took a deep breath and rubbed a hand against his eyes as if to arrange himself once more. He looked up with a slight smile.

"Yeah. I think she tagged some curse or another on it." He shrugged his shoulders and looked up at them. "And apparently I'm going home for Christmas."

He didn't appear too thrilled with the thought.

**I'm sorry, I'm not good with drama or anything like that. I hope I did the friendship between James and Sirius justice. The next chapter should be out soon, and I have a really good idea for how to continue How to Annoy Over Enthusiastic Quidditch Captains, so that'll be out too. But in the mean time, you can always read my other stuff... This one's coming to a close, so if you haven't already**

** REVIEW!**


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